S2. Chapter 15: Do You Have the Patience to Wait Till Your Mud Settles and the Water Is Clear?

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Lloyd aims the Tao Te Ching at Trumplandia like a spiritual weather report for a country vibrating itself into madness. Using Chapter 15, he explores three versions of where he comes from: Seattle, the Big Bang, and a VHS copy of Say Anything that slipped into the multiverse.

This is a guided meditation for people who metabolize news like caffeine, a political satire for listeners with mud in their water, and a Taoist riff on clarity in collapsing times.

Can you stop long enough for the mud to settle?

Chapter 15 of the Tao of Lloyd is inspired by Chapter 15 of the Tao Te Ching (translated by Stephen Mitchell):

The ancient masters were profound and subtle.
Their wisdom was unfathomable.
There is no way to describe it;
All we can describe is their appearance.

They were careful
as someone crossing an iced-over stream.
Alert as a warrior in enemy territory.
Courteous as a guest.
Fluid as melting ice.
Shapeable as a block of wood.
Receptive as a valley.
Clear as a glass of water.

Do you have the patience to wait
till your mud settles and the water is clear?
Can you remain unmoving
till the right action arises by itself?

The master doesn't seek fulfillment.
Not seeking, not expecting,
she is present and can welcome all things.

Lloyd Dobler explores identity, origin, and clarity in a chaotic America through Chapter 15 of the Tao Te Ching. Satire meets meditation in Trumplandia.